College Hockey:

Falite Notches Three Assists

BOSTON — It wasn’t pretty, but in the end for the Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks, Saturday’s victory over the Northeastern Huskies was simply a much-needed win.

After surrendering a three-goal lead in the final 13:10 of regulation, Lowell’s Michael Scheu scored his second goal of the game with 25.9 seconds remaining in overtime as the River Hawks spoiled an incredible comeback effort by the Huskies and Lowell earned a 6-5 victory in front of 2,560 at Matthews Arena.

When Scheu scored his first goal of the game at 1:52 of the third to give Lowell a 5-2 lead, it looked like the goal would be the icing on the cake for the River Hawks.

Thanks to a barrage of Lowell penalties however, Northeastern clawed its way back, getting goals from Kyle Kraemer, Jim Driscoll and Wade MacLeod over an 8:47 second span to knot the game, 5-5, with 4:23 remaining.

However, the River Hawks stemmed the Northeastern tide, turned their focus to offense and, just when the game looked headed for a draw, stole victory.

“We’re very proud of our team, our mental toughness to overcome that third period to win the game,” said Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald. “There’s a lot of pride in that locker room.”

Across the hall, what would have been plenty of pride for the Huskies turned to horror and frustration for coach Greg Cronin, thanks to a defensive breakdown in the final minute of overtime. The Huskies appeared ready to transition to the rush when the puck was turned over at the offense blue line and a lapse by both Huskies’ defensemen turned a three-on-three rush to a two-on-none break for the River Hawks.

“In a million years, I wouldn’t think that would’ve happened,” said Cronin of the defensive mistake that led to Scheu’s game-winner. “When there are two [defensemen] on the ice and they’re supposed to keep five guys in front of them and they end up chasing two guys. I mean, c’mon.

“The team fought too hard to come back to give the game away. Thats what we did.”

Frustration aside, both teams played at a spirited pace throughout the game. There were certainly more ebbs and flow to the game than many coaches would prefer, but for those in attendance, they certainly got their money’s worth.

Lowell’s offense got off to a quick start when Chris Auger scored just 1:17 into the game. Moving from the right halfboards to the slot, Auger uncorked a wrist shot over Northeastern netminder Chris Rawlings’ (25 saves) glove and under the crossbar for the 1-0 lead.

The River Hawks extended the lead on a perfect redirect by Paul Worthington at 7:53 and opened a three-goal lead when Jeremy Dehner scored on a wrap around at 11:20.

Northeastern climbed back into the game late in the frame. After Hutton stonewalled Mike McLaughlin on a short-handed breakaway at 12:38, he couldn’t stop a two-on-one when Tyler McNeely saucered a nifty pass to Kyle Kraemer at 15:23 to pull the Huskies to 3-1 through one.

The River Hawks held a massive territorial advantage in the opening period, and that translated to the shot, chart as Lowell outshot Northeastern, 14-5.

Northeastern balanced things better in the second, but it was the River Hawks that scored the period’s only goal.

Lowell’s Kory Falite won an offensive zone draw to Nick Schaus at the right point. Schaus feathered a wrister to the net soft enough that Scott Campbell could catch the puck on his blade, make a move around Rawlings and deposit the shot into an empty net at 7:47.

Trailing by three, Northeastern began to mount its comeback.

Rookie blueliner Jake Newton scored short-handed 55 seconds into the third. During the same Lowell power play, the River Hawks answered, as Scheu potted a rebound 57 seconds later to regain the three-goal lead.

Three Lowell penalties in a 1:48 span though gave Northeastern an extended five-on-three power play.

Northeastern scored with the man advantage on Kraemer’s second of the night at 6:50. Timing, though, was on Lowell’s side, as the goal came a second after the first penalty expired, allowing the River Hawks to return two of the three men to the ice. Lowell killed off the remaining penalty, but that simply delayed the Huskies’ comeback.

After Driscoll scored an even-strength goal at 14:49, MacLeod sent the Matthews Arena crowd into pandemonium, snapping a shot into the upper right corner on a power play at 15:37.

Lowell, though, regained its composure, particularly in the overtime period, where it outshot the Huskies, 3-1.

“I think our assistant coaches did a really good job calming the team down,” said MacDonald. “That’s the first step. And [assistant coach] Shawn [MacEachern] did a wonderful job of pushing them to victory.”

The victory caps a three-point road weekend for the River Hawks, who tied New Hampshire, 2-2, in Durham on Friday. Lowell improves to 6-4-1 in Hockey East and 12-7-1 overall and jumps ahead of Massachusetts for fourth place in the league standings.

Northeastern, which fell to 8-9-1 (4-8-1 Hockey East), must regroup quickly, as it will play a rare Sunday night contest against Massachusetts at home. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

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Jim Connelly is a senior writer and has been with USCHO.com since 1999. He is based in Boston and regularly covers Hockey East. He began with USCHO.com as the correspondent covering the MAAC, which nowadays is known as Atlantic Hockey. Each week during the season, he writes "Tuesday Morning Quarterback."Tweets by @jimmyconnelly

Sidebar

Less than week ago, Northeastern and Massacusetts-Lowell faced off in Hanover, N.H. during the Ledyard National Bank Invitational. Northeastern proved to be the dominant team, edging Lowell 2-1 the day after shutting out Dartmouth 7-0.

With the memories of last week’s defeat still fresh in their minds, the River Hawks seized their opportunity to turn their luck around early on in the game when they put three goals in the net in the first period. While NU managed to tie the game at five in the third, UML proved they have the tenacity to be competitive in Hockey East with their 6-5 overtime win.

Kory Falite proved yet again that he is a force to be reckoned with on the River Hawks’ offense, notching two assists. He is the first River Hawks’ player since Ed McGrane (1999-2003) to score more than 10 goals in four consecutive seasons. Falite has 11 goals on the season so far and is on pace to break his sophomore personal best of 18.

“We wouldn’t trade Kory Falite for anyone in the country with the way he’s been playing,” said Massachusetts-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald. “Kory really leads our team by example. He’s dangerous every time he gets the puck with his stick. He evolves into the guy that blocks the shot and makes a big defensive play. I think he’s really going to take off in the second half of the season.”

Lowell seemed to be making up for lost time offensively with their six goals. Despite having scored at least three goals in 16 of their contests, the River Hawks went on a month long drought, with December 11 the last time they were able to score multiple goals in an outing.

NU netminder Chris Rawlings ended his week-long reign as the Hockey East Rookie of the Week on a sour note. While Rawlings looked a little shaky in the net last night, giving up five goals, it’s hard to forget the success he has had thus far. Last weekend, Rawlings earned his second career shutout against Dartmouth and snagged 60 saves over the course of tournament.